Q: How is GFI LanGuard adapting to the changes that happen so fast in the IT infrastructure landscape nowadays?

Cristian Florian, Product Manager for GFI LanGuard

IT environments now include so many different devices, operating systems and applications that network administrators may not even be aware of all of them. The rise in BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) in business environments has added to the burden system administrators have to carry every day, in turn forcing them to stay on top of their network environment, strengthen security, while also monitoring an ever-changing network infrastructure.

So we built GFI LanGuard 2014 with this in mind. We had to extend its capability in this new environment because the whole IT infrastructure needs to be managed, no matter if we are talking about Windows®, Mac OS® or Linux® systems, physical or virtual machines, servers, desktops, laptops, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, or network devices such as routers, switches and printers.

Q: What is new in GFI LanGuard 2014?

One of the major things we added in GFI LanGuard 2014 is vulnerability assessment for smartphones and tablets. According to a survey conducted by Cisco, 90 percent of American employees use their personal smartphone for work purposes. While this is an opportunity for businesses, it also adds risk, as these devices may have access to sensitive company information and there is little, if any, visibility into how security is managed for them.

GFI LanGuard now allows network administrators to see when and what devices connect to the Microsoft Exchange servers and it checks these devices for security vulnerabilities. Android®, iOS® and Windows Phone® are supported. Additionally GFI LanGuard will report when new mobile operating systems updates are available and makes it very easy for network administrators to send email notifications to device owners alerting them that these updates are available.

Q: How does vulnerability assessment for mobile devices work? Do network administrators need to install anything on the smartphones?

No. Auditing of smartphones and tablets using GFI LanGuard is very easy. Mobile devices that connect to the company’s Microsoft Exchange servers are detected using agent-less scans. There is nothing to install on smartphones, tablets or the Microsoft Exchange server.

The only thing that needs to be set is the Microsoft Exchange server name and credentials that have access to it.

Q: Are there any enhancements on the patch management side?

Yes. We are continuously improving our patch management capabilities. GFI LanGuard 2014 comes with patch management support for major Linux distributions such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu, Suse, OpenSuse, CentOS and Debian.

According to a recent survey from Freeform Dynamics Ltd on 977 IT and business professionals representing a range of organization sizes and industries, 62.6% of them have at least one Linux system in their organization.

Now customers can use GFI LanGuard as a central console to patch Windows, Mac OS and Linux operating systems and applications. And, speaking of applications, it is now easier than ever for IT administrators to keep their systems fully patched, as we added a host of third-party applications to our “supported list”.

Q: What new third party applications are supported?

We added support for more than 20 new applications, bringing the total to over 50 third-party applications (besides Microsoft applications). We are practically covering all the most important ones in terms of popularity and security relevance.

Among the new applications we support are Pidgin (instant messaging), CDBurnerXP, ImgBurn and CCleaner (utilities), VLC and Audacity (media), LibreOffice (documents), Paint.NET and  IrfanView (imaging), Adobe Illustrator, Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe InDesign (Adobe Creative Suite), WinSCP and Core FTP (FTP clients), Python and Notepad++ (developer tools). The complete list is available here.

We will continue to add support for new applications at a high rate. Customers can request support for additional applications by sending an email to this address.

Q: Anything else worth mentioning?

Yes, we have some other good news for our customers. We have a special offer for anyone who purchases or upgrades their GFI LanGuard version to 2014. They will automatically receive 25% extra nodes for free to use exclusively on mobile devices auditing.

So check out the new GFI LanGuard version. We are proud of what we have accomplished and we believe that our users will enjoy it too.

Jackie Wake, Product Marketing Manager for GFI Cloud

Q: Tell us about the latest release of GFI Cloud?

Today’s release gives new focus to Asset Tracking, a FREE service in GFI Cloud. Where IT admins could already track an unlimited number of devices, simply and easily in the web-based console, this release looks to enhance the user experience further and make deployment even easier.

Q: So what’s new?

Now you can see at a glance inventory information across an entire network, such as operating system, processor and RAM. This means you can quickly identify underperforming PCs and computers that need to be replaced sooner than others, by filtering and sorting your network in one central view.

When the GFI Cloud agent is installed, the console now shows hardware and software details in minutes and new users can get up to speed quickly with in-product guidance on what asset tracking information is available and where it can be found.

Most importantly Asset Tracking can be deployed, without having to trial other GFI Cloud services, such as Antivirus, Monitoring or Patch Management.  At the same time, these services are just one click away in the same centralized console.  So they can be quickly and easily deployed when they are needed, without having to physically re-visit any of the tracked computers.

Q: Why do I need it?

As an IT admin or manager, knowing what hardware and software you have is the first step to being in control of your network.  It saves time on support calls and makes life easier when you’re planning hardware refreshes and software upgrades.

With Asset Tracking in GFI Cloud you can see what you have at a glance, anytime from anywhere and it won’t cost you a penny… EVER!

The catch?  No catch, just easy to use free asset tracking forever… Simple.

Q: Where can I check it out?

You can get Asset Tracking FREE today and roll it out to all your devices to see for yourself how easy it is to keep track of your company’s IT asset inventory, with GFI Cloud.

Do you want to learn more about this product? Visit our website to find how GFI Cloud simplifies IT management with one central view of antivirus, workstation and server monitoring, patch management and FREE asset tracking across all your servers, PCs and laptops on the move!

Mobile Devices

The rampant growth of smartphones provides hackers plenty of opportunity to find victims. Whether a system is running Android, iOS, Windows Phone, or BlackBerry, updating the operating systems is typically handled by the carrier, with little to no capability for the device owner to manage updates themselves, whether the owner is a consumer or an enterprise. And while the mobile platforms all do a good job of checking for updates to installed applications, it is often up to the user to actually deploy those updates, so it is not unusual to find a mobile device in need of multiple updates at any point in time. MDM (Mobile Device Management) products can help with this, but they can also be costly to implement and maintain, and challenging to use when you also want to support BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) or multiple devices and platforms. Vulnerability scanning of mobile devices connecting to your network, whether on the internal Wi-Fi or to applications over the Internet, can help sys admins identify systems requiring remediation – reducing the risk to corporate data.

CMS

Almost everyone these days has a blog, and almost no one these days manages the underlying platform that hosts their blog. WordPress and Joomla together account for the Content Management System (CMS) running on thousands of systems hosting over a million websites. Typically, blog hosts will maintain the underlying operating system, but leave updating the CMS and plugins to the customer. And since both WordPress and Joomla make it very easy to ignore your blog hasn’t been backed-up for weeks while you’re still publishing content daily, it’s very easy for a CMS to quickly fall out of spec. Since many vulnerabilities can be identified by certain basic strings, an attacker can find a new victim to exploit faster than they can order a pizza online. These CMS platforms can end up hosting spam links or malware that can then spread to site visitors. Vulnerability scanning and patching plugins should be a default addition to all sites, and CMS vendors should offer an option to automatically update for users who have “more important” things to do than check their blogs for updates.

BYOD

Bring Your Own Device initiatives are cropping up in every industry and market segment. As users want to use their platform of choice, enterprises are looking at ways to secure their infrastructure and data, while leaving BYOD device patching to the Y’s in the acronym. Unfortunately that is a short sighted approach, since compromised devices can be used to steal credential that can then be used to access more traditional systems, or to intercept data as it is accessed by the BYOD device. As with mobile devices, vulnerability scanners should be used regularly by enterprises, and IT should take a proactive role in helping users to secure and maintain their own devices. You can spend time helping a user update their tablet, or you can spend time recovering from a data breach caused by a device that has not been updated for some time. The choice is yours.

Remote Workstations

As good as most enterprises are at securing and updating their workstations and servers that are on the corporate network, most are abysmally bad at addressing machines belonging to remote users. It’s not uncommon to hear about annual meetings where everyone is required to bring in their laptop so IT can update and patch it. ANNUALLY??? With new vulnerabilities being discovered daily, I would rather just start with formatting a drive on a machine that hasn’t been cared for in almost a year, as it would be faster and more reliable to just flatten it than to try and clean it. Remote devices need attention too, and companies must leverage distributed systems, agents, or automatic updates to help ensure these devices stay secure. Rather than leaving things to chance, deploy a patch management system that can handle remote devices, or require that remote users connect to VPN regularly in order for their devices to receive updates and be scanned for vulnerabilities.

Legacy Systems

Legacy systems are the worst of the lot, as vendors have probably declared these systems to be end of life, and no longer offer updates to secure vulnerabilities. Many may have vulnerabilities for which patches were released, but because they come from an earlier time, were not updated as they should have been, and the patches are no longer readily available. Attackers regularly find ways to compromise networks and systems by first gaining a foothold on a legacy system. Companies must plan for replacing systems before they become obsolete, or sandbox them to restrict access and reduce the chance of compromise.

Call to action

There are several things that must be done to reduce the threat to users, data and systems. The responsibilities must be shared by enterprises, vendors, and end users alike. Securing data is not enough; platforms and devices must be secured as well. Companies should ensure that all devices within their reach are secure, whether owned by the company or by the end user. Vendors of mobile devices need to be sure they deploy security updates immediately, rather than waiting until they are ready to push out a major refresh to phones on their network. Apps should either automatically update, or reduce functionality until the user updates them, and systems that are not well managed, like CMS platforms and remote users’ workstations, should by default automatically update.

To better ensure administrators are aware of their exposure, they should regularly run security vulnerability scans against anything on their network. Patch management software can update and report on all systems within their administrative control, and should be a mandatory part of any infrastructure.

And non-technical end users must take active roles in securing their own devices. If they can buy them, power them on, and connect them to the Internet, then they can check for and install updates as long as vendor build in obvious and easy to use tools. Call it security’s easy button.

Securing systems is in everyone’s best interest. Do your part, and encourage others to do theirs.

1.            Best Auditing & Compliance Product – GFI MailArchiver®

2.            Best Backup & Recovery Product – GFI IASO and GFI Max Backup™

3.            Best Cloud Computing Product or Service – GFI Cloud™

4.            Best Messaging Product – GFI MailEssentials® and GFI Max MailProtection™

5.            Best Network Management Product – GFI Max RemoteManagement™

6.            Best Patch Management Product – GFI LanGuard®

7.            Best Security Product – GFI LanGuard and GFI WebMonitor®

8.            Best Systems Monitoring Product – Monitis™

If you like our products, vote for them today!

How to vote: Visit the nominations page; here you will find the online voting form; vote for each of the products you’ve used and would recommend to others – it’s that simple!

Why your vote means so much to us: The Windows IT Community Pro Awards allow the tech community to determine what products deserve acclaim and recognition. As a company with the vision of being the recognized software leader for small to mid-sized businesses, being chosen for these awards means a lot to us!

Your vote matters!

And we’re not stopping there. Knowing most of our followers are sys admins we thought of ordering another 50 150 GFI Superhero T-shirts… That’s right, you can celebrate with us and get your own free T-shirt!

Here’s how:

It’s really simple. We’re giving away a GFI Superhero T-shirt (like the ones in the picture) to the first 50 150 sys admins who participate in our competition – all you need to do is complete this form!

Dates:

Registration opens now and we will update this blog post when we’ve received 50 complete forms. We have reached 150 requests so we closed the competition. A blog post will follow up in a few weeks!

The all-important small print:

Before you do that though, be sure to read our Terms and conditions – it’s very important that you follow these, as you could be disqualified if any of these rules are infringed. Having said that, good luck to all and…

HAPPY SYSADMIN DAY! 

Terms and conditions:

• The first 50 150 complete forms will each win a GFI Superhero T-shirt (as shown in image above)
• GFI Software employees and their families cannot participate in this competition
• All entrants must be sys admins; non sys admins will not be considered for the prize
• Winners will be notified by email
• GFI is not responsible for the timeliness of the prize dispatch T-shirts are available in Small, Medium, Large, X-Large and XX-Large
• Upon contacting the winner/s, if no reply is received within a week (7 days), GFI retains the right to choose another entry
• Whilst GFI does its utmost to ensure that all prizes are delivered in a timely fashion the company does not retain responsibility for any prizes that are lost/stolen in the mail
• Any incomplete or irrelevant entries or entries that do not comply with these Terms and conditions will not be eligible to win
• Prizes are as described and cannot be substituted for cash.

To say “thank you”, here’s a list of 26 simple ways you can show your appreciation for those unsung heroes that toil away to keep the servers humming and the tubes unclogged. Some of these are low cost gestures; others might be something the boss should cover or the office should take up a collection, but all are guaranteed to put a smile on the face of that favourite SysAdmin of yours, on the one day a year where you know better than to drop a broken machine off or open a last minute helpdesk ticket.

1.      A card

When you care enough to send the very best, but you don’t have a lot of money to invest, a nice card at least shows some thought. Just make sure it is a card themed around IT, general geekiness, or otherwise shows that you didn’t pull one out of a card drawer because you forgot about it.

2.      Coffee shop gift cards

Whether your SysAdmin’s favourite brew comes from Starbucks or the local shop down the street, a gift card is the gift that keeps on giving, or at least for a couple of cups of really good Joe.

3.      Mobile store gift cards

If coffee isn’t their thing, you can bet a gift card to the iTunes Store, Google Marketplace, or Windows Store will be appreciated. Find out what kind of phone they have and get the card to right shop and you can bet that by the end of the day they will have a couple of new apps to try out.

4.      Amazon gift cards

While this may be the fallback of last resort, even people ten years in the grave can find something at Amazon that they want.

5.      Lunch

You’d be amazed at how far a nice lunch can go towards saying thank you, especially since that SysAdmin usually eats lunch at their desk because there is so much work to do. Whether it’s a one on one affair, or you make it a team event, just providing them the opportunity and excuse to see the sun at least for one day a year is a great gesture to make.

6.      Dinner

Better still, buy your SysAdmin dinner, by getting him or her a gift card at a nice restaurant so they can take their significant other out for a nice meal. Remember, every time you call your SysAdmin after hours to fix something, you are impacting their family too. Thank Yous should extend to them as well.

7.      A red Swingline stapler

The icon of geek and snarkiness, the Red Swingline Stapler is something every SysAdmin will love.

8.      TV Show or movie-themed swag

With a simple conversation, you can quickly find out what your SysAdmin’s favourite sci-fi TV show or movie is, and then a quick visit to ThinkGeek will provide you with tons of options for low cost, but very cool, thank you gifts. Very few adults will ever buy themselves a Sonic Screwdriver, but secretly, we all  want one!

9.      Poster

Use the same recon skills as above, but this time visit Amazon for cool movie posters or other theme art so your SysAdmin can pimp their cube in style.

10. A Pizza party

Here’s one the whole office can enjoy, and EVERYONE loves pizza. And since SysAdmin’s day is on a Friday, it’s a perfect fit for the day.

11. Light Dims LED Light Blocker

These cool little stickers dim otherwise overly bright lights, and can be applied to TVs, monitors, UPS systems, alarm clocks, or any other status light that needs to be seen, but is just a bit too blinding for most. Check them out at: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/eeb6/?srp=1

12. Hacking putty

Part silly putty, part play-dough, part caulk, and completely awesome – Hacking Putty can be used to fix or enhance almost anything.

13. Star Trek TOS Phaser Laser Pointer

Anyone who needs to demonstrate or point out anything needs a laser pointer, and every SysAdmin has pretended that they had a phaser when they were using one. Here’s a gift that says thank you with a nod to having fun: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/1124/?srp=2

14. Zombies are in

Did you know that Zombies are “in” right now? Anything from the Walking Dead to World War Z to remakes of George Romero movies are selling like mad right now, and thank you gifts that play into this will bring a smile and a chuckle to any SysAdmin’s face.

15. Powerstrip with USB

Every single person that sees one of these in action wants one. Get on your SysAdmin’s special list with this as a thank you: http://www.amazon.com/Outlets-To-Power-Strip-USB/dp/B0018MEBNG/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1374538925&sr=8-4&keywords=power+strip+usb

16. Bawls

Long hours mean a need for caffeine and sometimes coffee just won’t cut it. A case of Bawls is a delicious and refreshing way to hold of sleepiness during those late night changes.

17. Caffeinated mints

And these can not only fight off fatigue, but bad breath as well. It’s a multitasker, and any SysAdmin will appreciate that!

18. Herbal Tea collection

Of course, too much caffeine can be a bad thing. Many SysAdmins have discovered the benefits and the deliciousness of a good cuppa, and herbal teas can help you relax without hyping you up. Show your SysAdmin you care without feeding their addiction.

19. Emergency battery

Everyone needs more power, and when your cell phone is dying, nothing is more helpful than some emergency power. USB batteries come in a variety of sizes and capacities, and can save the day time and again.

20. A really cool coffee mug

Can you tell coffee is a big deal to SysAdmins. A cool coffee mug makes a statement, and can also handle those herbal teas. Look for one that plays to the TV or movie tie in for bonus points.

21. Anything by Neil Stephenson

A SysAdmin’s folk hero, anything that Neil Stephenson was involved in creating will be a greatly appreciated gesture, and you will go up at least five points in the recipient’s opinion.

22. Like/Dislike stamp set

Even SysAdmins who aren’t on Facebook will love these. I bet they will even use them on their TPS reports: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/e5f5/

23. Cable organizers set

Velcro is so over. The new hotness is cable organization using silicone polymers and oddly-shaped, brightly colored widgets to keep cables in place, bound together, or otherwise organized.

24. Paracord survival bracelet

Everyone wants one… but many people think they will look silly if they buy one for themselves. Help your SysAdmin get past that mental block. If disaster ever strikes, you know they will know how to McGyver something out of the bracelet to save you all – or at least, your email.

25. Beer

Free speech, free beer, it’s all good. Find out their favorite and get them a case. It’s the kind of gift that says…you work your #$(& off, thanks, now have a cold one!

26. Programmable LED light

The last on our list has no practical value, which is one reason no SysAdmin will ever buy it for themselves… but they are so cool! Replacing their desk lamp with this bulb will add new factors to coolness, and help them stay awake during those interminable conference calls: http://www.amazon.com/HitLights-BlueLux-Changing-Quality-Feature/dp/B005SHR2C4/ref=cm_cr_dp_asin_lnk

Twenty-six ways to say thank you to a SysAdmin that toils indefatigably for you 24/7/365. It’s one day a year that you get to really show your gratitude to them, so pick one from the list above, and remember your SysAdmin this Friday!

Like our posts? Subscribe to our RSS feed or email feed (on the right hand side) now, and be the first to get them!

In case it wasn’t clear enough last year, we love sys admins and SysAdmin Day is very important to us.

So we decided to turn SysAdmin Day into SysAdmin Week – because one day is really not enough! Throughout this week, we’ll be publishing a daily post designed specifically for you – from free tools, to tips, tricks of the trade and more (but we can’t divulge any secrets yet).

Stay tuned on our social media pages and TalkTechToMe!

Jackie Wake, Product Marketing Manager for GFI Cloud

Jackie Wake, product marketing manager for GFI Cloud, is back with exciting news about more features in the latest version released today.

Q: Tell us about the latest release of GFI Cloud?

Today’s release launches a new area in GFI Cloud for reports.  From the same centralized console accessible at www.gficloud.com, IT administrators can now generate reports for GFI Cloud’s services for antivirus, patch management and asset tracking.

Q: What reports are included?

These are the reports that have been most requested by our customer base; they enable IT admins to:

• See at a glance the current status of antivirus protection in their business and show the value of the service being delivered by IT.

• Easily spot and analyze trends in antivirus threats to their network, such as the top threats detected or computers which are at most risk; so they can take preventative actions and improve security.

• Spot and analyze trends in missing patches, so they can take action and address areas where they are particularly vulnerable.

• Generate a detailed inventory list to know what is on their network, with easy reference to key asset information, such as IP and MAC addresses.  Identifying devices with outdated operating systems is as simple as running a report with GFI Cloud.

Q: Why do I need reports in GFI Cloud?

If done well, much of the work of a smooth-running IT department can be invisible to the business; as far as they can see their environment ‘has no problems that need fixing’.  Instead of feeling fantastic about the health and performance of their environment questions, the value IT is providing to the business could be questioned.

Reporting in GFI Cloud is useful to the IT department, in terms of better decision-making, and to the company because it can provide insight, in a structured and digestible format, on the work IT does.  In no time, management can start to recognize that ‘everything working’ and ‘staff being consistently productive’ is a result of the IT department’s true value and work – and use of technology.

You can now report on the activities and state of the servers, workstations and laptops you manage, if you work from the office, from home or even in a remote location.

With quick and easy access to key reports for antivirus, patch management and asset tracking, you have the management information you need to help improve network security, run IT more efficiently and effectively and, why not, get some well-deserved kudos for you and your team.

Q: Any other reports planned?

Yes – this is just the beginning… There has been a strong demand by our subscriber base that GFI Cloud gives them the ability to generate reports. We will be adding more reports to each new release of GFI Cloud, and as we continue to understand what reports are of most value to our customers and their organization.

We are delivering the top reports requested by customers in this release and will add even more on a regular basis, in small batches.

Customers can tell us what reports they’d like to see in GFI Cloud by giving us feedback directly using the Feedback button on the upper right section in the GFI cloud web console.

Q: Anything else of note in this release?

Yes. Monitoring in GFI Cloud is enhanced with the addition of a new event log check detecting and alerting on conditions set by you.  Highly configurable, this enables you to monitor and manage the health of key business applications, to keep them running efficiently.

We’ve also made the installation of GFI Cloud’s Antivirus even simpler and cleaner, with a smoother transition when a pre-installed AV is removed. We’ve made it quicker and easier to deploy the GFI Cloud agent with proxy details as part of the MSI installer.

Q: Where can I check it out?

You can start a free 30-day trial of GFI Cloud today and see for yourself how easy it is to manage your company’s IT, with one place to monitor and protect your IT network, wherever you are.  Watch our short video for a round-up of some of the great features added to GFI Cloud this year.

Do you want to learn more about this product? Visit our website to find how GFI Cloud simplifies IT management with one centralized view of antivirus, workstation and server monitoring, patch management and asset tracking across all your servers, PCs and laptops on the move!

According to the Los Angeles Times citing anonymous sources familiar with the official investigation, Snowden used a USB drive to remove the data from the NSA. Apparently he simply made a copy of files to which he had access, and then just walked them out the door. While the NSA, like so many corporations today, has a policy against using USB drives, authorized administrators can use them when necessary. We all know that there are many tools available for download that work from USB, admins might use a thumb drive to apply firmware updates or to install new drivers, and any one of hundreds of other valid reasons for an admin to use such a flash drive. Apparently the NSA needs a little more than just a written policy. But they are far from alone in this.

According to a study by the Ponemon Institute published about two years ago that surveyed over 700 IT pros, 70% of businesses that lost sensitive or confidential data could attribute that loss in at least some fashion to the use of USB flash drives. While more than half were attributed to malware introduced onto systems from flash drives, 45% of the incidents came from lost, stolen, or misappropriated devices. Of the same study, while about half of the respondents indicated that their company had a policy regarding USB flash drives, less than half of those who do have technical means to enforce policy.

USB flash drives have also been implicated in security incidents at two US power plants last year. ISC-CERT reported that in two separate incidents, a USB flash drive containing malware was connected to a computer within a power plant, which then spread to other systems. In the more extreme case, the plant restart was delayed by almost three weeks as a result of the malware infection.

Earlier this year, a USB flash drive containing NPI for some 6000 citizens in Utah was lost. While Social Security numbers were not included in the lost data, the State still needs to undertake measures to protect the affected individuals. This loss of data by a third party contractor comes on the heels of a previous breach that led to the resignation of the State’s CIO, and appears to portend serious legal issues for the contractor as the State plans to pursue “whatever financial or contractual remedies are available in order to ensure GHS [Gold Health Systems] is held accountable for this serious mistake.”

These anecdotes all have a common theme – USB flash drives are dangerous. While they are great tools in the right hands and used for the right purposes, the risks they present to critical systems and sensitive data cannot be ignored. A government’s secrets were made public. Critical infrastructure systems were compromised. Individuals’ personal information has been stolen. The risks outweigh the benefits of these devices, and permitting their unrestricted use is just too dangerous. Loss of data, serious downtime, legal actions, and loss of jobs are all common themes. Written policies are required, but do not go far enough to protect companies from the threats.

What companies need is endpoint security. There are a number of technical measures that endpoint security solutions can employ to protect businesses from the risks presented by USB flash drives, while still enabling their legitimate use. No one wants to completely ban them from any and all uses, considering how beneficial they can be. Endpoint security allows you to use USB drives, just in a safe and secure manner. Endpoint security solutions first and foremost can enforce encryption for all portable devices. That way, if a flash drive is ever lost or stolen, the data stored on the device is safe from prying eyes.

There’s far more to endpoint security than just encryption though. Endpoint security can log and audit all uses of portable media, and enforce data-loss prevention (DLP) measures that can scan data for things like Social Security numbers or credit card numbers to ensure that sensitive data is not moved to portable media, or that it can only be moved to secure media by authorized personnel. That way, just because a user can access the data on the network, they cannot transport that data away unless specifically allowed to do so. And if they are authorized, you have an audit log that tells you exactly what files were copied to the portable media.

Endpoint security can also provide real-time status monitoring of all the systems on your network, automatically enabling protection to new machines that join your domain.

Now that you are aware of, and no doubt very interested in, endpoint security, make sure you look at products that are compatible with all your operating systems, including Windows 8 and Server 2012, and that can apply policy based on your existing Active Directory so that you can leverage and protect your existing investments.

USB flash drives are extremely useful, valuable tools when used properly. Endpoint security solutions can help to make sure that your written policies around the safe and secure use of these devices is enforced technically to keep your data safe, and your company off the front page news. Endpoint security is the right way to secure your company against the threats USB flash drives present, while still enabling you to use them.

Now in their fourth year, these awards are highly respected by end users and vendors, and honor vendors, like GFI®, for their efforts to provide products and solutions that help companies combat IT security threats. Last year, GFI won two awards in recognition of our efforts to help small and mid-sized businesses improve their security – VIPRE® Business Premium™ was awarded the Anti Malware Solution of the Year and GFI Cloud™ the New Product of the Year award.

If you like our products visit http://www.computingsecurityawards.co.uk/, choose a relevant category and add your nomination.

We encourage you to nominate GFI and share the link to the nomination page with your colleagues.

Hurry up though, nominations close on 29 July!